One of seven candidates will be elected to Parliament as a result of tomorrow’s casual election, but will resign almost immediately, according to the procedure agreed by the House Business Committee today, paving the way for Adrian Delia to be co-opted straight away.
The procedure was discussed today by government and Opposition MPs with the
Speaker.
If the results of the casual election are presented to Parliament during tomorrow’s plenary, the new MP would be sworn in, give a short speech in Parliament, and immediately resign.
The Prime Minister would then move for the PN leader to be co-opted to
Parliament – a requisite for his becoming the Leader of the Opposition – and, as long as the 3-day notice period between the moving of a motion and its coming before the House iswaived by both sides, the co-option would go ahead.
Seven nominations were received by the Electoral Commission for the casual election being held on the seventh district to fill the seat vacated by Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Debono. The nominations were from Sam Abela, Joseph Antoine Borg, Dounia Borg, Lee Bugeja Bartolo (PD), Peter Micallef, David Vassallo and Ian Mario Vassallo.
Read: Seven nominations submitted for casual election to fill Jean Pierre Debono's seat